Mourning-band for hats



"(No Model.) v

v J. w. COREY. MOURNING BAND POE HATS.

' N0. 376,428. Patented Jan. 17, .1888.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES W. COREY, OF NEVVABK, NEWV JERSEY.

MOURNlNG-BAND FOR HATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 376,428, dated January 17, 1888.

. Application filed September 28, 1887. Serial No. 250,892. (No modelJ To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES W. COREY, a citi zen of the United States, residing at Newark, Essex county, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mourning-Bands for Hats,fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a partof the same.

The object of this invention is to providea portableendless mourning band, adapted. for immediate application, without the use of skilled labor, to hats varying somewhat in size.

To effect these objects the improvement consists, partly, in a new article of manufacture, consisting in an endless elastic mourning-band provided with a wire, a whalebone, or other stiffener secured in one edge and performing the threefold function of furnishing a grip to the operators fingers in drawing the band upon the hat, in retaining the lower edge of the band in close contact with the brim of the hat, and inornamenting the lower edge of the band, when applied to the hat, without the use of an auxiliary ribbon or cord; and partly in the combination, with such a mourning-band and reed, of a coating of india-rubber applied to the inner surface of the fabric, so as to adapt the band, by its elasticity, to fit, without altera-,

tion, upon hats of different sizes, and to retain its hold thereon without fastening.

The invention is shownin the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a front view of a'hat provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the band'detached, from the hat; and Fig. 3 is a section of the fab ric from which the band is constructed. Fig. 4 is a plan of an open band. a is the crown of the hat, I) the body of the 40 hand applied thereto, and c the stiffener secured in its lower edge. I

In Fig. 3, d is the layer of bombazine or other suitable material, and e a layer or coating of the indie-rubber or other elastic gum applied to one side by a rolling process, as is common in coating other textile material, as canvas and muslin.

In compliance with custom, a mourningband for hats is commonly made of bombazine,

which is a fabric readily affected by moisture,

so that when carefully applied to the crown of a hat it is liable, if exposed to a damp atmosphere, to wrinkle and present an unsightly ap pearance, or if exposed to a hot sun to shrink and draw the hat out of shape, especially if it be a stiff silk hat. If the bombazine or clot-h band be made of a loose strip of material, it

requires to be sewed to the hat, and when re- 1 moved from a silk hat leaves behind a perceptible mark, which deforms the hat where the stitches were applied.

My improvement provides a removable band other soft cloth such adegree of elasticity that an endless band formed of the same may be fitted to bats of sizes varying within a narrow margin, as one, or one and a half eighths in diameter. Such elasticity is imparted to the fabric by stretching the bombazine or soft fabric and passing it through rollers in contact with india-rubber.

The hardening of theindia-rubber upon the woven fabric produces sufficient shrinkage of the latter to allow of a subsequent extension when applied to the hat, and the iudia-rubber and the fabric then, both of them, exert an elastic hold upon the crown of the hat, which produces a very close and accu ratefit. I combine with such endless band a stiffener or reed, of wire, whalebone, or other suitable elastic material, secured within its lower edge by turning up the same, .as shown in Fig. 2, or by any other suitable means, to ornament the edge of the band. A cord stiffened with shellac is often used as a reed in hat-manufacture, and any cord which will perform the required functions may be used in practicing my invention. V

' By the'application of indiarubber e to the inner side of the fabric cement may be applied to the upturned edge e, and the stiffener 0 may thus be firmly secured in place without the use of stitches. The application of india-rubloer to the fabric renders it completely water-proof, so that exposure to rain is not capable of soiling, warping, or shrinking it to any material degree, and it is therefore far better adapted to endure exposure or cleaning than a band of mere woven fabric.

The stiffener is of material use in applying an endless band to the hat, as the crown is more or less tapering in form, so that the resistance to the downward movement of the band increases rapidly as it approaches the brim. Such stiffener affords a strong projection attached to the mourning-lmnd, by means of which the finger-nails of the operator, or a suitable sharp-cornered tool, may be used to force the band downward with the stiffener into close contact with the brim as is desired.

It is customary, where the ends of the bombazine or cloth strip are united, in forming a mourning-band, to apply a reed or stiffener to indicate the vertical line of the joint. Such reed or vertical projection upon the band is of merely ornamental use, and may be applied thereto or omitted at pleasure in my construction. I find that in practice the bombazine coated with rubber is of such elasticity thata band constructed to fit a seven-inch hat, and which will fit snugly upon the same, may also be applied to a hat one-eighth or three-sixteenths of an inch larger, and I also find that the fabric is adapted to shape itself closely to the tapering form of the crown which is common in Derby and other hats, as shown in Fig. 1.

The adaptation of the endless band to. more than one size of hatfits it especially for use in retail stores, as it avoids the carrying of a large stock of such ready-made bands, while the great facility with which it may be applied to the hat enables the dealer to dispense with the services of a trained workman, which are required for fitting and sewing a loose band of bombazine properly upon a hat.

The reed serves to form an ornament at the lower edge of the band, and avoids the use of a small ribbon or cord, which is often used to cover the stitches when they are employed to secure a band to the hat. The reed also, by its firmness, serves to hold the lower edge of the band into close contact with the brim of the hat at the corner where it joins the crown, and thus prevents the band from wrinkling when conformed to the set of the brim, or from drawing up from the brim at the front and rear of the crown.

It will be seen from the above that the material pztrt of my invention is the combination, with theloweredge of ancndless elasticinourning-band, of a reed to promote its application to the hat and to ornament and to hold it in place after its application thereto.

The reed may be made of any desired material having the requisite qualities, and performs its threefold function .when combined with an elastic endlessmourning-band,whether the latter be coated with india-rubbcr or not.

I am aware of United States Patent No.

l 180,954, dated August 8, 1876, and claiming a binding for hats and other articles provided with an adhesive composition upon one side to secure it permanently in its required situation. The rubber applied to my mourningband performs an entirely different function, as it is hardened or prepared in such a way as to have no adhesive properties after it is united to the fabric, but operates solely by its shrinkage to shorten the fabric abnormally, and to thus render it elastic, while it imparts to it a peculiar smoothness and freedom from wrinkles when applied to the hat.

I am also aware of United'States Patent No. 274,701, dated March 27, 1883, in which an adhesive substance is applied to one side of a fabric for the purpose of cementing the adjoining faces of the fabric together when the edges are folded over upon the body. The indiarubbcr coating upon my band is not used 'as a cement, nor is any part of the band folded over and cemented to the body by the indiarubber.

I am also aware of United States PatentNo. 51,172, dated November 28, 1865, describing the combination, with thejoint of ahat crown a ring and sewed to the hat-body. Such spring is intended only to hold the crown of the hat in shape to properly fit the head, and performs all its functions independently of the hat-band, and is a disfigurement to the hat, so

the band. It has no function in common with the reed which I apply to my hat-band,and which is an attachment of the band before its application to the hat, and which operates not only to ornament and to hold the lower edge of the band in place, but furnishes the only means by which a soft fabric can be readily and accurately drawn upon the hat-crown. No means has heretofore been known by which a mourning-band of soft fabric could be quickly, easily, and accurately adjusted upon a hat without the use of skilled labor, and the function which the reed performs in my band is therefore entirely new and materially different from that which it would perform if applied to the hat separately from the band.

I hereby disclaim the patents referred to and anyreed or hat-band not permanently connected together for the purpose I have described.

I also disclaim a hat-sweat having a reedin the lower edge to stiffen the same, (as is claimed in United States Patent No. 217,576, dated July 5, 1879,) as the reed in such acoustruction is not associated with a soft fabric, like bombazine or thin cloth, and does not perform any such function as the reed in my construction, which is an invaluable adjunct in applying a soft endless band to a hat by affording a grip at its lower edge, by which it may be pulled upon the hat.

Having thus set forth my invention, what I claim is-- 1. As a new article of manufacture, a re and brim; of a spring formed in the shape of as to require covering by the lower edge of 1:0

movable mourning-band for hats, consisting in a strip of bombazine or other soft fabric formed into an endless band ready for application to the hat, and provided at its lower edge with a reed or stiffener inserted in a fold of the fabric and projected beyond the surface of the fabric when the latter is applied to the hat, and thus performing the threefold function of ornamenting the band, of affording a grip in the application of the band, and of holding its lower edge in contact with the brim of the hat when applied, substantially as herein set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a mourning-band for hats, consisting in a strip of bombazine or other soft fabric formed into a portable endless band ready for application to the hat, and having a reed or stiffener inserted in a fold at the edge of the fabric and a coatingof india-rubber upon its inner side, and adapted, 20 by its elasticity, to fit, without alteration, upon hats of different sizes and to retain its hold thereon without fastening, substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereofl have hereunto set my 25 hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES W. COREY.

Witnesses:

F. O. FISCHER, THOS. S. CRANE. 

